Opposition
by Rosalind2013
Summary: Defeating Hawkmoth one inconvenience at a time. Crossposted on Ao3.
1. Opposition

**No spoilers for Season 2 here, just awkward father and son bonding.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Opposition**

There were a lot of things in life that took Adrien Agreste by surprise: becoming a superhero, a slippery patch of ice, or just how much cheese one kwami could eat, to name a few.

Even though he'd experienced such a wide array of surprises already, he was still sorely unprepared for a few very recent developments.

The previous weekend was full of earth-shattering revelations, and Adrien felt like his life had been a perfect maelstrom ever since.

After he'd had a bit of time to process it, (five full minutes, in fact) Adrien decided that he was thrilled to pieces to find out that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was Ladybug.

That was _fantastic_ , and he truly wanted to be excited.

Unfortunately, the other revelation of that weekend hung over his head like a dark storm cloud: rumbling with thunder, but not quite pouring down yet.

The blond boy watched the buildings rush by outside the car window, wondering if it would really be so bad to jump out. He could tuck and roll; it would probably be fine even without his protective suit.

"Sit up straight, Adrien. Your posture is horrendous," Gabriel Agreste commanded from the seat beside his son.

Adrien slowly turned to face him, eyes narrowed in silent opposition. Blazing green met icy blue, and the air between them was supercharged with tension.

Adrien very deliberately slouched a bit more, and Gabriel scoffed.

"There is no need to be childish, Adrien," he admonished with a critical quirk of his brow.

"Or what? You'll take my Miraculous?" Adrien challenged, arms crossed over his chest as he stared his father down.

Gabriel sighed and rubbed his temples, "We are not discussing this. We have a fashion show to focus on."

"Why do I have to be there? I'm sure Étienne would be more than happy to fill in for me," Adrien remarked.

"Now you're being ridiculous. There wouldn't be enough time to make the alterations before the show," the fashion designer replied matter-of-factly.

The black cat kwami poked his head out and gave his holder's chest an almost sympathetic pat. Half-hearted though it seemed, the gesture seemed to chip away at Adrien's anger.

The boy's hard expression melted away into a soft frown as he turned back to the window, and they both lapsed into silence. The hum of the engine filled the empty space.

The blond boy stole a glance at his father, who refused to return his gaze, and shook his head.

"I'm so _hungry_ ," Plagg whined from his place in Adrien's pocket.

The boy chuckled and rubbed the kwami's head with his index finger, "You're _always_ hungry."

Plagg sniffed, "That's not true. Sometimes I'm _starving_."

"I've got some Camembert stashed in my bag. You can have it when we get there," Adrien offered with a grin.

Plagg scoffed, "Maybe I'll survive until then."

Gabriel gave the kwami a judgmental look, "Aren't _you_ quite the melodramatic one?"

The black cat kwami fixed the man with a scathing glare, "The kid can tease me all he wants, but _you_ better watch your mouth."

The man blinked in surprise at Plagg's unexpected rebuttal, and Adrien smothered a laugh at his father's expense. Gabriel watched the mischief dance behind his son's eyes; mirrored perfectly by the mischief in the cat kwami's.

"I've always wondered why Adrien was chosen to be the holder of the Black Cat Miraculous. He seemed too soft to become the embodiment of destruction, but it appears I was mistaken in that assumption," Gabriel admitted.

Adrien's eyebrow quirked up as he regarded his father with intrigue, and he silently waited to see where the conversation was going. When Adrien didn't react emotionally - as Gabriel no doubt expected him to - the fashion mogul cleared his throat in discomfort.

"That is to say, you are much more… resilient than I believed you were."

Adrien grinned at his father, the fire in his eyes calming for the first time since the revelations of the previous weekend.

"I guess that's pretty high praise coming from _you_ ," Adrien quipped, grin shifting into a haughty smirk that Gabriel recognized from Akuma battles. He narrowed his eyes at his son, and Plagg cackled before ducking back into the teen's pocket.

Adrien's smirk only grew more impish as he registered the disapproval in his father's gaze. The man sighed and removed his glasses so that he could massage his temples unhindered.

"So it was kinda ironic that you were hypnotized into acting like a butterfly that one time. I bet that really _bugged_ you," Adrien remarked.

Gabriel began polishing his lenses as if he hadn't heard his son speak.

"I guess victory just wasn't in the _cards_ for you," the boy continued.

The man took a deep breath and stared down at his eyeglasses intently.

"Though I guess the Gorilla wasn't _monkeying_ around though," Adrien murmured in mock concentration.

Gabriel replaced his glasses on his nose and turned to his son, "I admit that Simon Says was a mistake. Much like your wordplay."

Adrien scoffed and rested a hand over his heart, "My puns are the cat's meow."

"No, they're _cat_ astrophic," Gabriel replied, not missing a beat.

Adrien blinked in blatant surprise, and his jaw dropped. Gabriel's eyes widened as he realized what he'd done.

"That was completely unintentional. As if _I_ would ever stoop to such tacky humor," Gabriel remarked, sticking his nose up in the air.

Adrien snickered, "No, of course not."

"I _wouldn't_ ," Gabriel argued.

The blond boy tapped his chin thoughtfully, "Hawk Moth would though. I seem to remember a lot of insect related banter when I fought him last weekend."

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at the memory and rubbed his jaw, "Your right hook is exceptional, by the way. Where did you learn hand to hand combat?"

Adrien chuckled and shrugged, "I'm self taught."

Gabriel's eyebrows shot up, "That's very impressive. Perhaps you would like to spar sometime?"

Adrien's smile faltered, "Uh, that's… an interesting offer, but no thanks."

The fashion designer clucked his tongue disapprovingly, "And pass up the opportunity to learn my weaknesses? I thought you were smarter than that."

The blond boy shook his head, "No way I'm giving you an opportunity to learn _mine_."

Gabriel cracked a smile; "I'd be impressed if I weren't so irritated that you didn't fall for my trick."

Adrien chuckled, "I'm sure you _are_ irritated."

The man glanced out the window and then checked the time, "We should be arriving on schedule. Good."

A few more minutes passed in silence, and Adrien noticed that his father was eyeing him.

He raised an eyebrow at him, "Yes?"

"I was just thinking about Ladybug. Your girlfriend is quite the spitfire," Gabriel remarked.

Adrien felt his cheeks flush, "She's _amazing_. She's not my girlfriend though."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow incredulously, "I find that hard to believe; she was quite protective of you. I was surprised that she went as far as she did to defend you and your Miraculous."

Adrien smiled and shook his head; "I would've done it for her too."

Gabriel's skeptical look deepened, "Yes, and you're very clearly smitten. It stands to reason that she is as well."

The boy sighed, "I don't know, Father. I think it's pretty unlikely."

The man shook his head and gave his son a knowing smile, "If she was willing to threaten that the Ladybug Miraculous would end up at the bottom of the ocean if I should take yours from you at home, I'd say your chances with her are favorable."

Adrien took a deep breath and stared forward at the road with a wistful smile, "I hope so."

"I do wonder about her identity. Perhaps I'll see a new face around the house soon," Gabriel prodded.

The model rolled his eyes, "She's not stupid, Father. And that same threat goes for _my_ Miraculous if you ever do figure her out."

"Ugh. I hope that never happens. I _hate_ water," Plagg remarked with a cross glare in Gabriel's direction.

The car pulled up to the curb outside the venue, and the driver walked around to open the door for them. Adrien hurried through the doors behind his father, taking advantage of the fact that everything had halted at his appearance.

Nathalie emerged from the crowd of Gabriel designers, models, and crew to update her boss on the status of the show thus far.

A tray of finger foods sat forgotten on a decorative table, and Adrien snuck over to it with the stealth of a cat. He popped a tart into his mouth and slipped Plagg quite a bit of _fromage fort_ on a cracker.

He hummed in satisfaction when he'd eaten nearly everything on the tray, barring the Camembert laced cheese.

"Adrien."

The model stiffened as he met his father's gaze, realizing that he'd been caught.

"If you were hungry, you should have let your chef know an hour ago. You know it will alter the fit of your clothes if your stomach is swollen," Gabriel scolded as he approached and took a long look at the nearly empty food tray.

The blond boy's eyes narrowed in defiance as he stared his father down. Adrien didn't break eye contact as he grabbed the last tart from the tray.

"Don't-" Gabriel began, a warning in his voice.

The fire ignited in Adrien's emerald green eyes once again, and he promptly stuffed the entire tart in his mouth. Gabriel's eye twitched as he watched his son chew as rebelliously as humanly possible.

Adrien watched in satisfaction as his father turned on his heel and marched away, leaving a bewildered Nathalie glancing between the two of them. Adrien considered eating the cheese too, just to spite him, but ultimately decided that even _that_ wasn't a good reason to try Camembert.

He slipped another cracker to the kwami before heading to his dressing room. Perhaps there was a bright side to all of this. After all, not everyone got to infuriate their arch nemesis on a daily basis.


	2. Misfortune

**Apparently I don't know how to write a** _ **one**_ **shot.**

* * *

 **Misfortune**

It started with small things. Negligible things, in fact.

A stapler sat a few millimeters out of place. A picture frame was tilted askew. Perhaps there were a few instances where his tape measure ended up in the bottom drawer of his desk when he _knew_ he always placed it in the top.

All of those things could be overlooked; explained away as happenstance and ignored in favor of more important things.

But this? This couldn't be labeled as the result of a long night and sleep deprivation, because Gabriel Agreste simply did not _forget_ to toss out his rejected designs.

Yet, there they were.

Inexplicably photocopied and placed into his lead designers' folders alongside his precious final designs for the summer line.

The results of his experiment with color theory flashed garishly as Monsieur Bernard held it up to the light. The rough sketch lines mocked him in a way that only failure could.

"I didn't realize that you wanted these…pops of color…in the summer line, Mr. Agreste," the man commented politely.

Gabriel stared helplessly as the designers struggled to find a way to question his decision without losing their jobs. He appreciated the effort they put into phrasing their dissonance.

How could something like this happen?

He knew it had been terribly late when he placed the final designs in his folder for Nathalie to photocopy, but no amount of tiredness could excuse _that_ monstrosity making the final cut.

It didn't make any sense. The designer pinched the bridge of his nose while his employees floundered around. He heard a small snicker to his left, and his head snapped up violently as he turned to face the offender.

He was met with the bright green eyes of his son; an incongruous amount of amusement danced within their summery depths.

"Something wrong, Father?" Adrien inquired, blinking innocently.

Gabriel sighed as he gazed back at his son, who so reminded him of his missing wife. Even when they weren't getting along, Adrien was always so kind. How thoughtful of him to notice when his father was upset.

"Yes. I have no idea how that… That _thing_ , ended up in the folder for my summer line," he complained, rubbing his temples in an attempt to ward off his impending headache.

Adrien's mouth twisted into an impish little smirk, and a fire sparked to life behind his eyes.

"Wow! Seems like you've had some rotten luck lately," the blond boy drawled.

Gabriel froze; that smile. It couldn't be.

"It's almost like the embodiment of misfortune has some sort of grudge against you," Adrien continued, shrugging in the most casual manner possible.

"It was _you_ ," Gabriel accused, childishly pointing a finger at his son.

Adrien looked taken aback, "What did I do?"

"You did this, didn't you? As some sort of retribution," the designer snapped, brandishing the rejected design at his son as if the colors alone were punishment enough.

The boy tilted his head to the side and furrowed his brow in confusion. "Retribution?"

Adrien was the picture of innocence, but Gabriel knew better. He could see that spark of defiance in his eyes.

"-Sir. Perhaps you should save this discussion for later?" Nathalie suggested. Gabriel paled as he realized that the room had fallen silent during his altercation with his son. The designers all stared at him with wide eyes, and he was sure that he looked no less surprised.

"Er, yes. I apologize for the delay. That particular design was a mistake on my behalf. Frankly, it was meant for the trash bin," Gabriel explained.

Another snicker sounded to his left, but he had the good sense to ignore it in order to wrap up the meeting as soon as possible. It was one thing to know that Adrien was Chat Noir, but it stung just a bit more to be betrayed by his only son in such a personal way.

Gabriel wrapped up the meeting and ushered the designers from the room, ordering them to get started on mockups. He whirled to face Adrien, who showed no signs of fear at his father's impending wrath.

"Adrien, how dare you humiliate me in such a way?" he demanded, glaring down at the boy who remained infuriatingly calm.

The teenager grinned and strolled past his father to reach the doors to the conference room. He pulled the door open, but paused in the doorway, glancing at his father over his shoulder.

"I'm off to school now. Have fun at work," he called; eyes alight with something quieter than the roaring flames before. Gabriel's tense jaw relaxed a bit as that softened the edge of betrayal he felt earlier. Perhaps Adrien's little prank was rather harmless in the grand scheme of things.

As he walked to lunch, though, it was hard to ignore the chuckles of his lead designers.


	3. Baguette

**Oh, would you look at that?**

* * *

 **Baguette**

Of all the ways Adrien expected his day to go, standing on a table while bludgeoning his father with a subpar baguette was not at all what he envisioned.

Gabriel took advantage of his momentary lapse in attention and parried the next swing with a candelabrum. The baguette crackled loudly under the blow, but remained intact. It was to be expected, since the bread was horrendously hard.

Adrien grinned and kicked a soup bowl over, drenching his father's socks with the hot liquid and causing the man to stumble backward. As soon as he'd regained his footing, Gabriel hurled the contents of a cheese tray at his son. Adrien managed to escape the assault mostly unscathed, save for the cheese that clung to his hair.

Adrien vaguely noticed that Plagg howled in anguish at the sight of Camembert splattered against the walls, but his father's steely gaze prevented him from dwelling on it.

Then the door swung open, revealing a very disgruntled Nathalie and a rather confused Marinette.

Adrien glanced around at the mess that surrounded them, taking note of the broken dinnerware, twisted silverware, and walls blanketed in wasted food.

Gabriel immediately dropped his makeshift weapon and corrected his posture. He stood atop the table with his hands clasped behind his back, acting as if he weren't splattered with the remains of his dinner.

Adrien had the good sense to look sheepish and hopped down from his perch atop the table.

"Oh. Hey, Marinette! I didn't know you were stopping by," he said with a grin that was a little too wide.

The girl's eyes darted between Adrien and his father, as if evaluating the situation for potential danger. Then she reached into her backpack and pulled out a history book.

"You left your book at school," she said. Her eyes darted between Adrien and Gabriel one more time.

"Oh, thanks so much!" Adrien said, taking the book from her and inching over to block her view of the dining room, as if he could make her un-see the damage within.

Marinette peered around him, and he adjusted for her movement.

"Is everything okay, Adrien?" Marinette asked, raising an eyebrow at him in question.

"Definitely! Father and I just…had a _minor_ disagreement," he explained, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Marinette gave him a flat look and then shrugged.

"Oookay," Marinette replied, looking thoroughly unconvinced. She turned to take her leave anyway, giving him an affectionate pat on the shoulder as she went.

"See you tomorrow, then," she called over her shoulder.

"See you tomorrow," he murmured.

Adrien knew he sported a particularly dopey grin, but didn't particularly care. Nathalie rolled her eyes good-naturedly and walked off to ensure that Marinette made it out okay.

"Ahem," his father cleared his throat very loudly, and Adrien whirled around with a scowl.

"What?" he asked, with a minor sharpness in his tone.

"I assume that Miss Dupain-Cheng will not be spreading news of our 'minor disagreement'?" Gabriel asked, still standing on the table in a regal pose.

Adrien scoffed and snatched a relatively unscathed plate from the table, shoveled some intact Camembert onto it, and stormed from the room.

"So…that was interesting," Plagg remarked.

Adrien huffed as he entered his room and slumped down onto the couch. "That's one way to put it."

It was safe to say that things in the Agreste household hadn't been the same since the discovery that father and son were on opposite sides of a magical war. A small smile graced Adrien's lips at the recollection of the battle in the dining room. It was actually the most fun he'd had with his father in a long while.

Perhaps sparring wouldn't be such a horrible idea.


End file.
